Bughouse for Beginners: Give up the Queen
Sometimes, a well-meaning bughouse player, in an attempt to help out their partner, won't give up a Queen. There are many good reasons not to give a Queen. For instance, if the partner's board looks like the following, with a queen in the opponent's hand, and none in the partner's, is quite sad for the partner...
In this position, a queen is almost decisive for the player who has it. Q@h1 or Q@h8 is, by itself, difficult to deal with. The defending player would need to play N@g3 or N@g6. Without a knight in hand, there is really nothing. (Let's just assume no rooks are coming for either player).
However, there are positions in which an enemy queen is relatively harmless...
This is a line from the French Defense, Advance Variation. For either player, a Queen is not immediately dangerous. What both players really want are pawns, bishops, and knights. And both players want to stay ahead on the clock, and want their partner to be safe, and so on.
Beginning players sometimes get into the following sorts of positions...
In this toy example, Black has had a bit too much fun with the Queen, falling behind in development. In many ways, this is more alarming than it would be in normal chess. White's attack will be reinforced by piece drops, which means Black is even more out-gunned than they would be were this position to occur in classical chess. In bughouse, there is no endgame to hang on for, and trading down won't take the steam out of White's attack, since White can reasonably expect more material.
Black's best chance is to ignore the threat to the Queen, and to develop the King's Knight, allowing the Queen to drop, and retaking with the other Knight. Black will still be behind in development, but less so than previously. Black still has to suck it up and defend.
What frequently happens is that Black spends so many moves, and so much time, defending the Queen, that White gets the King. Many times this is needless. If Black's partner has a closed position, there is no reason not to give the Queen. There are also benefits to giving the Queen for Black's team.
Black can cut their losses, and stop defending a burdensome piece that contributes nothing to the position.
The Queen is only running away, while the rest of Black's army languishes on the back rank. Not only can Black cut their losses, Black's partner can focus on defending against the Queen, without worrying about Black getting mated in three moves.
In the event that Black's partner has a closed position, the Knight will be more of an asset than the Queen.
Black's partner will most likely be able to do something with a Knight. But a Queen is usually best used for mating attacks. Unless there is some fork on the board which wins a piece, a Queen can be hard to utilize in a closed position.
The Knight is more disposable than the Queen.
Black's partner is always free to let the knight go. But for Black's partner's opponent, it is hard to let the Queen go. Black's opponent gained an advantage in time and position, finally got the Queen, only for it to reappear in Black's hand. The Knight is easier to use because it is easier to lose.
The Queen is better on no square
Sometimes, the best place for the Queen is to be absent from the board. Perhaps the Queen will come back around, and will be well placed in your hand. Off the board, the Queen can't be attacked.
The main problem is positions like the following...
Unfortunately this happens all to often, because players don't want to let the Queen go. It is very hard to find defensive moves for Black here. Even if Black's partner is very strong, it will be extremely hard for them to suggest playable moves while also progressing in their own game.
Conclusions
Suppose that you are Black, and you give Queen for Knight. In that situation, you lost material, but you got your partner something. Generally, it is better to get a little, in exchange for a lot, than to lose a little, and get nothing back. This gives the partner something to work with. Look over at your partner's board. Could they use a knight, or a bishop? Look at their rating. If they are above 2000, a Queen may not faze them at all. Consider letting the Queen go. She'll probably come back around.
For 1700-1900 rated players aspiring towards a 2000 elo rating, it is often best (especially in the random pool, which is capricious and unpredictable) to expect to have to play down a Queen. For this, closed or semi-open positions are useful.
